The Manuscript Painting Tradition (Pre-Mughal, Sultanate, and Pala school)

Pre-Mughal or Pre-Rajasthani Paintings

Various forms of art have existed in India long before the Mughal invasion and are collectively called pre-Mughal paintings. Multiple styles of paintings have prevailed across various regions that speak of our rich culture and have been passed on from one generation to the other.

• Dating back to the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, these were then patronized by feudal lords and wealthy citizens
• The pre-Mughal paintings were illustrations of secular, religious and literary themes
• The pre-Mughal paintings or pre-Rajasthani style of Indian art represents the indigenous tradition of painting before the formulation of court styles of Rajasthan and the intermingling of Mughal influences
• Other renowned artworks representing this indigenous style of painting or pre-Mughal paintings are Mahabharata, Bhagavata Purana and Gita Govinda, and Madhubani, Kalamkari, Warli art and Phad styles of painting
• The style of these paintings is casually referred to as pre-Mughal or pre-Rajasthani or, more commonly, ‘indigenous style’

Sultanate School of Painting

• This school of painting was born due to the dynasties that came from Central Asia, Persia, the Turkic region, and Afghanistan to the Indian Subcontinent
• The Sultans of Malwa, Jaunpur and Gujarat were the ones that mainly patronised this school of art
• It has a hybrid Persian influence-indigenous pictorial style that is unique and classed as a ‘style’ rather than a ‘school’ of painting
• The Laurchanda Paintings and Nimatnama (Book of Delicacies) are fine examples of the same.

Short notes on Nimatnama

Written by Sultan Ghiyat Shah during the reign of his son, Nadir Shah, Nimatnama is a one-of-a-kind book of recipes that carries illustrations. It begins with a short yet funny note dedicated to the ‘King of Cockroaches’, pleading with the insects to keep away from his culinary book.

• Nimatnama is short for Nimatnama-i-Nasiruddin-Shahi and is the most representative example of this Sultanate School of Painting
• It was painted at Mandu, the then capital of Malwa, during the reign of Nasir Shah Khilji (1500–1510 CE)
• The book is essentially a cookbook with illustrations of miniature style painting
• Nimatnama is a book containing about fifty recipes besides preparing medicines, cosmetics, perfumes, and directions on their use.

Pala school of paintings

The miniature paintings found in the Buddhist monasteries also called maha viharas of Nalanda (present-day Bihar), Odantapri, Vikramsila and Somarupa, were great centres of Buddhist learning and art in those days.

Short notes on Pala School of paintings

• These miniature paintings are on palm leaves, and they represent Buddhist themes
• The Pala period (750 CE to the mid-twelfth century) saw India’s last significant phase of Buddhist art
• The Pala school of painting comprises illustrated manuscripts depicting the Palas of eastern India
• The Pala school of painting spread to Southeast Asia through students and pilgrims who came for education and religious instruction in Nalanda and Vikramshila University
• A distinctive characteristic of the Pala School of art is the use of subdued colour tones with curved lines
• A famous example of the Pala school of art, Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita, or Perfection of Wisdom, was painted during the reign of Rampala, the last great ruler of the Pala dynasty
• In the first half of the thirteenth century, the Muslim invasion marked the end of the Pala School of art.

Conclusion

Manuscript drawings were conceptualised systematically in topic sets (each set including numerous loose paintings or folios). Each picture folio has its accompanying text engraved in the designated area on the top section of the painting or on its reverse. As a result, there would be sets of Ramayana paintings, Bhagavata Purana paintings, Mahabharata paintings, Gita Govinda paintings, Ragamala paintings, and so on. Each set was wrapped in cloth and placed as a bundle in the king’s or patron’s library.